UT finds balance on offense; UH has 2 weeks to regroup

Published 5:30 am, Monday, September 23, 2002

In posting their 19th straight victory against an unranked opponent, the Texas Longhorns reached admirable performance levels during their 41-11 sweep past the Houston Cougars.

In losing their 14th consecutive game to a Top 25 team, the Cougars continued too many of the self-destructive tendencies of the past -- penalties and missed assignments -- at the wrong times. The streak of Top 25 losses began with the 1996 Liberty Bowl loss to Syracuse after defeating No. 23 Southern Miss 56-49 in overtime earlier in the season.

Texas coach Mack Brown was enthused Sunday about the balance of an offense that posted 233 yards rushing and 244 passing, a near-perfect split of its 477 yards. Cedric Benson's 160 yards rushing on 37 carries was eight more than UH's entire offensive output (152).

"Our offensive line played really good," said Brown, who had been critical of the unit after a scoreless second half in the 27-0 season-opening win over North Texas.

On Sept. 14 against North Carolina, the unit paved the way for Benson's 208 rushing yards.

"Beau Baker is a guy who has been around for a while," Brown said of the fifth-year senior from Clear Lake, "and he has helped out (center) Jason Glenn to make the middle three (with guard Tillman Holloway) better and better."

"They were part of the reason we were so pleased that the defense could hold a back like Joffrey Reynolds the way they did," Brown said. "He had 105 yards total offense on us last year, and he came in averaging 137 yards in their first three games."

Seldom finding a running lane, Reynolds was limited to 38 yards on his 13 carries with seven yards his longest run. The Cougars, 15th nationally going into the game, netted 31 yards on 23 runs.

UH's only first down of the first half came on its second play of the game, when fullback Tim Feathers' three-yard run followed Barrick Nealy's nine-yard toss to Brian Robinson. After that, the Cougars went seven series before producing their next first down, about 38 minutes later with five minutes left in the third quarter. Their 42 yards of total offense in the first half, on 22 plays, was 15 yards shorter than the 57-yard interception return by Victor Malone to the UT 29.

That might have been the Cougars' best chance to make it a close game. Trailing 14-0 at the time, they faced fourth-and-inches at the 20. But a false start on the left side of the offensive line resulted in a five-yard penalty, and Dustin Bell was summoned for a 42-yard field goal, his seventh in a row this season.

UH coach Dana Dimel pinpointed another costly penalty, a 15-yard personal foul tacked on the end of a third-and-10, 13-yard Chris Simms to Robert Timmons pass, putting the ball on the UH 37. Benson covered the final 24 yards on five carries to give UT a 21-3 lead.

With starting quarterback Nealy on the sideline the entire second half, the Cougars were 1-of-12 on third-down conversions with 10 possessions of three-and-out. Unable to run effectively, then facing a 31-3 halftime deficit, their offense was forced into a one-dimensional passing game, with Nick Eddy effective as Nealy's replacement but with too little time.

After missing 15 tackles in the win at North Carolina a week earlier, Brown counted just two misses this game.

"We subbed some in the third quarter and some players didn't respond very well," Brown said.

Texas did lose two fumbles in the second half and Selvin Young's 91-yard kickoff return for an apparent TD was nullified by an illegal block penalty.

Barring complications in this week off, Dimel expects Nealy to recover from the bruised knee suffered a week ago that he aggravated Saturday night. Nealy was limping at the end of a sprint out to the right late in the second quarter, and couldn't push off the leg to properly execute a pitch.

UH resumes practice Tuesday for its Oct. 5 Conference USA game at TCU; Brown resumes his 2002 tour of previous places of employment when he takes the Horns to New Orleans to play Tulane on Saturday. Brown coached the Green Wave in 1985-87 before going to North Carolina. Sunday, he recalled a bit of advice from Barry Switzer, his boss at Oklahoma when Brown was offensive coordinator in 1984.

"Barry told me `that your team gets very good when every player who touches the ball has a chance to score,' and we're getting closer to that," Brown said.